Sabah To Have Quickest By Election As Umno Heavyweight Bung Mokthar Succumbs To Health Complications

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SABAH UMNO chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin has breathed his last at 1.46am today (Dec 5), less than a week after retaining the Lamag state seat with a 153-vote majority in the 17th Sabah polls.
The passing of the 66-year-old six-term Kinabatangan MP was confirmed by his son Naim Kurniawan – the Kinabatangan UMNO Youth chief – via a Facebook post.

The Sabah UMNO chairman had earlier been reported to be in critical condition following complications involving his lungs, heart and kidneys.
Bung Moktar who is best remembered for his tendency of making controversial remarks and inflammatory behaviour made his maiden breakthrough in Sabah politics when he won the 1999 general election by defeating Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) candidate Ali Latip Taha for the Kinabatangan parliamentary seat.
He managed to retain the seat in the 2004, 2008, 2013, 2018 and 2022 general elections. Since joining politics in 1978, he had been a staunch Barisan Nasional (BN) politician by sticking to being a USNO/UMNO representative.
All in all, he had served as an MP under six different Prime Ministers: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the late Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Bung Moktar’s demise means that Sabah now braces for possibly its quickest by-election even when dust from its recent state polls have yet to settle, particularly that surrounding the total DAP wipe-out and PKR’s miserable outing (only won one seat) which signifies Pakatan Harapan (PH)/peninsula parties’ rejection.
Under Article 54(1) of the Federal Constitution, if a casual vacancy arises in the Dewan Rakyat, it shall be filled within 60 days from the date on which it is established by the Election Commission (EC) that there is a vacancy.
Interestingly, the fate of Bung Moktar’s on-going corruption case now hangs in the balance.

Recall that he was charged on May 3, 2019 by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) with three counts of corruption amounting to total of RM2.8 mil in June 2015 when he was director of FELCRA Bhd.
His wife, Datin Seri Zizie Ezette Abdul Samad was also charged with abetting her husband in the offences.
Both the Kinabatangan MP and his wife were initially acquitted and discharged on Sept 7, 2023 after the High Court allowed their revision applications to overturn a Sessions Court ruling on Sept 2, 2022 that had ordered them to enter their defence on the corruption charges.
But the prosecution filed its appeal against the acquittal on Sept 18, 2023 following which the Court of Appeal ordered both Bung Moktar and Zizie Izette to enter their defence on three corruption charges involving RM2.8 mil related to the Felcra Bhd investment. –  Focus Malaysia

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